The Shadow Game
by HiddenAnimeCoveGang
Summary: Both Seto and Yugi loose their most powerful dragon cards and it's up to Yugi to win them back. Can he do it or will he loose his Red Eyed and Slyfer The Sky Dragon for ever?
1. The Dragon Deck

Dragon Deck

**By: Yusuke of HAC**

Yugi and his friends Tea, Duke, Tristan, Joey, Serenity and Mai, were walking around Battle Kingdom during the night before the finals.  Yugi turned to Joey, asking if he wanted his Red Eyes Black Dragon back.  Joey shook his head; it's Yugi's now, fair and square.

            A yell could be heard nearby.  Yugi turned around and ran that way.  Seto Kaiba's voice could be heard in the distance.  Yugi heard the words "Blue Eyes White Dragon", and wondered what it could mean.  Before any of them could figure out what was happening, a kid ran toward them.  

He wasn't much taller than Yugi in his normal form.  He wore a t-shirt with a picture of a red dragon on it, and his jeans had patches that resemble fire sewn into them.  On his right arm was a duel disk, showing him as being a contestant.  

The kid bumped into Yugi, and both were knocked down.  Now what Seto was saying could be heard clearer,  "Give me back the Blue Eyes White Dragons, you rat!"

Yugi stood up and turned around to look at this boy.  The kid wore a smirk on his face.  He held a card in his left hand.  Slowly turning it around, Yugi could see the attack points.  They read 2400.  He then saw the 2000 defense points.  Yugi instantly recognized this card.

Yugi shouted out to him, "Give me back my Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

Among Yugi's friends could be heard little gasps.  Duke stepped forward.  "You heard him, give it back," he said while throwing a die at the boy.  The boy was hit by the die, but didn't flinch a bit.

Tea asked the boy, "So, who are you?"

Kaiba finally reached the group.  "This is Katsu Yukio.  He is the self proclaimed Dragon Master of Duel Monsters.  I'm sure you've heard already about the fact that he has stolen my Blue Eyes White Dragons."

Yugi nodded,  "I am aware of that, he also took my Red Eyes.  I will duel him for the cards' safe return."

Kaiba yelled, "What?  I can take him on myself!"

"I can do this, Kaiba."

"Hmph, fine Yugi, but I duel him if you lose."

"Thanks, you won't regret this."

Katsu, who was listening to them, yelled out at Yugi.  "Hold on I want there to be a few conditions to this duel.  First of all, we play with 8000 Life Points.  And second, if you lose, I get to keep one of your cards.  Namely, Slyfer the Sky Dragon."

Joey jumped in,  "Hey!  Wait a minute, Yug, you don't have to accept this kid's challenge!  He has the most powerful dragons I've ever seen in his deck, and you'll lose Slyfer if you lose!"

            Yugi smirked, turning into YamiYugi, he said, "Isn't that the same as every other duel in this tournament, Joey?"

            Joey flinched, "But Yug…"

            "I'll be fine, Joey."

            Katsu yelled out, "Anytime you're ready, Yugi."

            Both players' life point count was set to 8000.  Their duel disks' holograms were up and running.

            Katsu started first,  "I summon Cave Dragon in attack mode."  A fairly large dragon arrived on the field.  The holograms said the attack power was 2000 and the defense was 100.  "And I play 1 card face down," A face down card appeared on the field.  "Your turn"

            Yugi nodded,  "I play one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

            Katsu snickered,  "Is that it?  Very well, I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode."  A dragon with emeralds appeared on the field, 1900/1600.  "Luster Dragon, attack!"  Luster Dragon lunged forward and struck the monster, only finding out that it was…

            "Giant Soldier of Stone," Yugi said while the gigantic golem with its small sword appeared in front of him.  "With its 2000 defense points, it can withstand your dragon's attack.  And do 100 points of damage to your life points."

            "Only a flesh wound," remarked Katsu.   "Go."

            "I will," Yugi said as he drew another card.  "I sacrifice my Giant Soldier for my Summoned Skull."  The Giant Soldier of Stone disappeared, and was replaced by a skeleton monster at 2500/1200.  "Attack his Luster Dragon."  Summoned Skull created a lightning storm, destroying the emerald dragon.  Katsu's life points lowered to 7400.

            Katsu said, "So what?  There are stronger cards in my deck."  He drew.  "I play White Dragon Ritual.  I sacrifice my Cave Dragon to do so."  The Cave Dragon vanished into a puff of smoke.  "Now, I play Paladin of White Dragon, in attack mode!"  A warrior riding on top of a white dragon appeared on the field, with 1900 attack power.  "Now, I activate its special effect.  I sacrifice my Paladin to summon from my deck…"

            Yugi's eyes widened.  "It can't be…"

            "That's right, Yugi.  The Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"Now, my Blue Eyes can't attack this turn because it was summoned by my Paladin, so it's your turn."  Katsu said, to Yugi's relief.

"Very well.  I play a monster in defense mode."  A monster appeared in face down position.  "And I play two cards face down on the field, ending my turn."

"Then it's my turn."  He drew.  "I play my Graceful Charity, to draw three cards, and discard two.  Next I play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards."  He looked at his hand for a moment.  "I activate Dragon's Gunfire.  Since I have a dragon on the field, I can either destroy a monster with 800 defense or less, or do 800 Life Point damage to you.  I choose the Life Point Damage."  Yugi's Life Points dropped to 7200.  "Next, I'll play Stamping Rampage, to destroy a Trap or Magic card that is on your side of the field and do 500 damage to your Life Points."  Yugi's life points were lowered to 6700, and his face down card, De-Fusion, was destroyed.

Yugi's friends continued to root him on.  "C'mon Yugi" "It's just a few life points, Yug, no biggie" could be heard in the audience. 

Katsu smirked.  "Blue Eyes, attack his monster, now!"

"I activate Wobaku to stop your monster in its tracks."  Three spirits stopped the attack from reaching Yugi's monster.

Katsu ended his turn.

Yugi drew.  "I activate my Swords of Revealing Light.  It stops all attacks from your monsters for three turns.  Next, I flip summon my Skilled White Magician, and play Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode."  1700/1900 and 1900/1700 appear next to the monsters.  "I play Gather your Mind.  Since this is a spell card, it will give my two monsters a spell counter for each.  When I get three spell counters on them… well, you can find out soon enough.  I can now get another Gather your Mind from my deck, though I can only play one per turn.  I'll play the Gather your Mind card face down."

Katsu drew.  "Now you're in for it.  I play Polymerization."  Everyone's eyes went wide, except Katsu's.  "And I get rid of my three Blue Eyes, one on the field and two from my hand.  This will form the most powerful dragon, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon."  4500/3800  "Sadly, it can't attack you, but I will play Exchange.  I assume you know what to do?"  Yugi nodded, they showed each other their hands.  Katsu took Yugi's Black Luster Soldier, and Yugi took The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, the only card in his hand that would semi-help him.  "Now I play Super Rejuvenation, to draw three cards, since I got rid of three dragons this turn."

For Yugi's turn, he played Gather your Mind once more, to get his last Gather your Mind from his deck and give his Magicians spell counters.  "Then I play your dragon in attack mode."  1300/2000  "And lay one card face down, go."

            Katsu looked at his new hand and laughed.  "I play one card face down, and play Polymerization once again."

            Kaiba looked up at them.  "I know what he's doing, it's just like in the virtual world…"

            "I fuse Blue Eyes Ultimate with your Black Luster Soldier to form Master Dragon Knight!"  5000/5000  "This monster gains 3000 attack points for the 6 monsters in my graveyard, bringing it up to 8000 attack power.  I still can't attack, so it's your turn."

            "Now it's my turn to fuse.  I play my last Gather your Mind card to get the last spell counters needed.  Now I sacrifice my two magicians for Buster Blader and Dark Magician."  A swordsman and a Magician appeared on the field.  Buster Blader was powered up by Katsu's dragons bringing him up to 5600/2100, and Dark Magician was at 2500/2100.  "Next, I play Polymerization to fuse my two fighters into…"

            Joey yells out, "What?  Buster Blader and Dark Magician can combine?"

            "…Dark Paladin.  It gets powered up by all dragons, so it's raised up to 6400.  I play him in attack mode, you're turn."

            "Fool!  You're mightiest monster is left wide open" Katsu said.  "Master Dragon Knight, attack!"

            "I play Mirror Force!  When this card is activated, I destroy all of your monsters in attack mode when you attack."

            "Not so fast, Yugi, I activate my face down Spell Card, My Body as a Shield.  I pay 1500 Life Points, bringing me down to 5900.  This card can only be activated when you use an effect of a card that destroys one or more monsters, this card negates it."

            "Not so fast, kid.  I activate Dark Paladin's other effect.  By discarding a card from my hand, I can negate your spell card."

            Katsu flinched, "what?  No way!"

            "Way, now you're monster is destroyed by my Mirror Force.  Now we proceed to my turn.  Dark Paladin, attack his Life Points directly!"

            Dark Paladin thrusted his arm out at Katsu, the area darkened, with black and green everywhere.  When the darkness cleared, Katsu was on the ground, his Life Points were lowered to 0.

            Yugi stepped forward.  "I won, now hand over the dragons you stole."

            Katsu yelled, "Take them!  You haven't seen the last of me!"  He threw the cards onto the ground as he got up and ran away.


	2. The Rods Rebellion

Subnote from the Author:  Because people wanted more, I decided to do so.  This story has been renamed "The Shadow Game" for the new plot.  Katsu will still be here.  Consider the duel in the first chapter as a prologue.  Also, I heard that later Joey will be sent to the Shadow Realm.  If this is wrong, then I do not know what to say.  I am also assuming that Yugi finds out that Yami Bakura is in his Puzzle.

After the finals, Yugi acquired the Millennium Rod from Marik.  The evil spirit within Marik hid himself within the Rod, but everyone else in Kaiba's blimp thought that he had disappeared for good.  Yugi wandered through the hallways of Kaiba's blimp.  He thought about what had happened recently.  He almost lost two of his friends, experienced three powers that he will never forget, got mixed up in a battle between step brothers, defeated all of the Rare Hunters, received two Millennium items, and saved the world.  Was this really his destiny?  He looked down at his Puzzle, and wondered.  Somehow he eventually ended up next to the Hospital Wing.  As he walked up to a door and he heard a sound from inside so he decided to see who was making it.

When he opened the door, Yugi found Serenity in front of Joey's bed.  She had stumbled off her chair and looked up at him a bit embarrassed.

"You ok Serenity?" Yugi asked.

"Ya, I'm ok. Just nodded off," she replied as she picked herself up off the ground and sat back in her chair.

Yugi glanced at the two figures lying on the beds in front of him. He bit his lip as he slowly walked up to Joey and Mai, with the intentions of releasing their minds from the Shadow Realm using the Millennium Rod.  First, he put the Rod above Joey's body waving it from one side to the other as the rod began to glow brightly.  Serenity stood up and smiled as the Rod's power began to work. 

"It's working," she said with glee.

Joey groaned slightly and his eyes opened. He looked up at Yugi and grinned, "What took ya so long?"

Yugi chuckled slightly then turned to Mai putting the millennium rod over her body and waving it from one side to the other as he'd done with Joey.

Mai stirred then blinked slightly and sat up just as Joey did. The two turned to look at each other and smiled.

 "Mai…" Joey whispered with relief.

 "J… Joey…" Mai whispered back as tears began to fill her eyes.

"Mai… you… you were in my dream… the one that I didn't tell you about… I'm sorry I lied."

Mai smiled at him, "It's ok…"

They stretched out their hands but right before they touched, Mokuba walked into the room.  He looked around the room, then at Mai and Joey.  He snickered slightly then announced, "We have landed everyone. Seto wants all non-personnel out of the blimp in 5 minutes," he grinned at them as he said this.

There was laughter all around the room.  "Leave it to Kaiba to say something like that," Joey said shaking his head slightly.

"He was serious,"  Mokuba quickly said.

The laughter slowed down.  Joey and Mai stood up with sighs.  As everyone was about to leave the room, Marik and Bakura arrived & stood just outside of the door. 

            "In case you were wondering, Yugi, I released his mind personally.  He attempted to help me get out earlier," Marik said before Yugi had a chance to ask.

            Bakura then said to Yugi, "But my dark side was still resting inside of your Puzzle, Yugi…"

            Yugi nodded.  He knew that already.  As they walked out of the blimp, Yugi stopped dead in his tracks & started to twitch.  The Millennium Rod started to glow, but only Joey saw this.

            "Yug… there's something wrong with that Ro-" he began.

            Before Joey could finish, Yugi dropped to the ground, panting.  The Millennium Rod dimmed.  Yugi stood up quickly and continued to walk, as though nothing happened.  "Well, what are you guys waiting for?  Let's go," Yugi said to his friends.

Duke, Tea and Tristan all gave each other quizzical looks as they walked down the hall towards the others, and, with shrugs, followed behind Yugi.

As soon as they exited the blimp Mai turned to the others.

"Well, I better be going home now. I'll see you guys around ok?" Mai smiled glancing at Joey before turning and walking off towards home.

"Don't be a stranger Mai," Joey said as she walked off.

"Never," Mai called back.

            After spending an hour on the bus, with everyone watching Yugi as he was looking at his deck, they stepped off the bus and began walking towards the turtle Game Shop.

            "Yug…" Joey said to his friend in a worried tone.

            "Yeah, Joey?" Yugi answered.

            "A bit earlier… you know… when your Millennium Rod began glowing. What was up with that?"

            "Maybe it was adjusting to its new master?" Yugi suggested with a shrug not seeming fazed at all at what had happened just earlier.

            As Yugi said this, a thought went across Tea's mind, '_New master… or new host?_' However, she didn't say anything about it and wiped it from her thoughts.

When they got to Grandpa's turtle game shop, there was Yugi's grandpa sweeping the sidewalk.  After he finished, he turned to the side and, to his delight, saw Yugi and his friends walk down the street.  After all of their greetings, Duke had to leave, to return to his own game shop.  They bade farewell, and waved to Duke as he walked away.

            "Yugi!" Grandpa said as the group walked up.  "How'd the tournament go?"

            Yugi smiled.  "I won, Grandpa!"

            Grandpa smiled back.  "Well now, that's my grandson."  Chuckles could be heard among Yugi's friends,  "Come on in, everyone."

            As everyone walked into the Game Shop, Joey pulled Grandpa to the side and whispered to him.  "Listen, Gramps, something's up with Yug; he went kind of crazy for a moment after the tournament.  He didn't do anything, but his body began twitchin' and stuff.  Just watch out, will ya?"

            Grandpa looked at him quizzically.  "I don't quite understand, Joseph, but if you say so…" The two then proceeded into the Game Shop where the others were waiting.

            Grandpa sat down at his desk while everyone looked around.  "So, did you meet anyone interesting at the tournament?"

            Tea responded, "Yeah, we met Katsu the Dragon Master, or so he claims."

            Tristan continued, "And we also met Marik and the Rare Hunters.  Those guys aren't to be trusted.  They steal cards from duelists by beating them brutally.  Joey here was beaten once.

            "And some other interesting people," Tea added.

            Joey gave Tristan a dirty look. Tristan looked in the other direction and started whistling.

            "And Marik was their leader", Tea finished.

            Suddenly Yugi began sweating.  His body began twitching again. The Rod glowed once more, and the Millennium Puzzle suddenly broke into pieces. Yugi screamed, as his voice started to change to that of the dark spirit's that lived within Marik for so long.  Everyone looked at him in terror.


End file.
